Shaped by Scripture or Shaped by Culture?
questions 1 Timothy left me asking
Last week my husband and I were driving home from getting groceries when I decided to pull out my pocket Bible and pick up where we’d left off reading in 1 Timothy. We reached 1 Timothy 2:12, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.” I think it’s one of those passages where a lot of us (especially women) instantly kind of back away and think, “This isn’t true,” or “This can’t be for today,” or “That was for a different time and a different culture. It doesn’t belong in ours.”
I’ve read that verse plenty of times, and many verses that are very similar that came in the books before it, but this time something just clicked in my head, and I realized how much I’ve been conditioned by the culture I grew up in. We live in a society that teaches a sort of “anything you can do, I can do better” attitude, and somehow our culture made it men vs. women, and I don’t think I realized just how much that had shaped me and how much it made my ego, my pride, try to change the Word of God. It’s quite frightening.
I do believe men and women are equal in the eyes of God. We both bear His image. Our value isn’t different. But biologically we’re different, and I think our minds work differently too. Reading this passage made me realize how easy it is to try to explain away the verses that make us uncomfortable instead of letting them challenge us or change us, and I think that’s dangerous.
This in no way means women don’t have an important place in the Church. The Bible is full of women faithfully serving and using the gifts God has given them to build up the body of Christ.
I also think it’s important to remember that it doesn’t just say, “Men are the leaders.” In 1 Timothy 3:1–7, Paul gives a long list of qualifications for overseers and elders, and they’re incredibly high. Men are not qualified just because they are men.
It made me wonder if we’ve been asking the wrong questions. Instead of only asking why women can’t hold those positions, should we also be asking which men actually meet the qualifications God lays out? Why are our minds so quick to question the boundaries God has laid out? If we believe His wisdom is greater than ours, why do we instinctively assume that it’s unfair or outdated whenever it conflicts with our own understanding?
And if we’re being honest… are any of us really fit to lead the Church apart from the grace of God? How often do we let culture shape the way we read the Bible instead of letting the Bible shape the way we see the culture? And when we come across a difficult passage, are we willing to submit to it, or do we immediately start looking for a way around it?
I’m still thinking through all of this myself, and I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts.
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Photo by Andy Dean.
"If we believe His wisdom is greater than ours, why do we instinctively assume that it’s unfair or outdated whenever it conflicts with our own understanding?"
I think this is the question we need to drill into the most regularly, with so much of scripture. My reaction to a challenging verse reveals something about the state of my own heart, whether that be right or wrong.
I think we too easily fall into the trap of asking why God would do something instead of receiving the opportunity to self-examine and as to why we're responding how we are.
Sometimes we do need to better understand why God gives certain instructions. Other times we miss the opportunities that God gives us to instead look inward and examine the state of our souls.
Honestly, many women would not have to lead in churches if men would step up and lead. My pastor recently did a sermon about duty versus devotion. He talked about beanbag Christians who are comfortable and cozy in the church, but they are not moving or doing anything. I am so thankful for the many faithful women who taught me in Sunday School and laid the groundwork for my Biblical knowledge.